


The Girl With the Parasol

by cest_what



Category: Panic At The Disco, The Like
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, F/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-11
Updated: 2010-06-11
Packaged: 2017-10-10 02:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/93985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cest_what/pseuds/cest_what
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan saw the girl at the top of the bridge when he was still climbing the pedestrian steps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Girl With the Parasol

**Author's Note:**

> Written for oddishly.

Ryan saw the girl at the top of the bridge when he was still climbing the pedestrian steps. She was a bright splash of colour, blue gown and primrose parasol and her long hair the colour of honeyed wood tangling in the breeze. But he didn't realise what she was doing until he reached the top of the steps, starting up the path, and he saw her climb carefully up onto the railing.

For a second Ryan was frozen, disbelieving. She paused, untangling her skirt from the railing, the parasol resting on her neck, and he started running.

"NO!" he shouted. "DON'T JUMP!"

The wind whipped his words away. Ryan's chest was aching, the muscles in his legs burning as he ran. The girl raised the parasol high, lifting her chin.

And she jumped.

Ryan was never going to breathe again. He couldn't stop running; he reached the railing and ploughed into it, a painful crash against his chest. He was trying to look but he couldn't see anything except the same image playing over and over again, a girl in a blue dress and a yellow parasol letting herself fall.

"Are you not all right?" somebody asked.

Ryan blinked his eyes open; blinked again.

The girl was holding onto her parasol, dipping a little in the breeze some dozen feet out from the bridge.

Ryan opened and closed his mouth.

The girl frowned up at the parasol, struggling to reposition it, and she floated closer. "My name's Tennessee," she said, squinting at him, "but I think I must have met you before. You look ever so familiar."

Ryan held out his hand, letting the girl take hold of it, turning his fingers over curiously. She was still floating, flying, holding the parasol with one careless hand.

"In – in another life," Ryan said hoarsely. "Before you jumped off a bridge, maybe."

Tennessee gave him a sceptical look. "It was hardly that kind of jump. I didn't die, you know."

Ryan smiled, something huge and bright opening up in his chest. He had no idea what was going on, none, but there was a girl in a blue dress standing on air and she was holding his hand.

"No," he agreed, and he tugged her hand in and kissed her fingers, because he couldn't help it. "No," he said, "I noticed that."


End file.
